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Setting Dogs and Their People Up for Success in Behavior, Health, and Life - Progress Thread

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we have a local Animal Protective Association (non-profit) and their main mission is to cover spay/neuter costs to low-income families. They're awesome. I've asked them how I can help them, and they said just getting the word out. If you'd be interested in helping them, let me know - they're wonderful ladies, but not the most tech/web savvy, so I'd be more than happy to help however I can. I used to run their Facebook page and put some data into graphs for them years ago, and I still have a great relationship with the President, Connie.
Yes please put me in touch with them. If they can get the Google Ads Grant then I'll setup their campaigns for them, and maybe help with the website if it's not setup to get visitors to take action.
 
Yes please put me in touch with them. If they can get the Google Ads Grant then I'll setup their campaigns for them, and maybe help with the website if it's not setup to get visitors to take action.
Thanks, Andy! I'll call Connie today and see if she/they'd be interested in it. I'm sure they will be.
 
I agree with Biophase that we need more fosters. I do understand why people dont want to though and would rather donate. It is a ton of work. Here is my driveway every morning from puppies pooping all over the reusable pee pee pads. Im constantly using the hose. Puppy poop smell is horrendous lol.

Screenshot 2024-08-24 at 11.25.38 AM.webp
 
I've been making the transition from charging hourly to programs. I introduced these programs to a client for the first time today and I'm blown away at how different it already feels.

I had worked with this client previously, by the hour, for a new dog they brought home. They ultimately decided to re-home the dog, but then brought home another new dog. When they reached out to me about this new dog, I was already in the process of creating the new programs, so I told them that I'm now requiring assessments prior to working with dogs. It was over text message, and it kind of felt like they were trying to get more information about what I thought about their dog out of me and they asked about the assessment price in a way that made me feel like price was a big factor in whether or not they wanted to do it (I could be wrong). They ended up choosing to do the assessment, which we had today. At the end of today's assessment, I described my four new programs (think along the lines of good, better, best, premium) and what they entailed and what kinds of achievements they could expect to make from each one. I didn't mention price. Without much thought and without asking about price, they chose the "better" program. I was kind of shocked, but I handed them the print-outs with the descriptions and pricing to look over and again, they didn't really look too much into them and stuck with the "better" program priced at $1,075. They even said that ALL of my programs were reasonably priced (ranging from $675 to $7,575).

So I feel like almost overnight I've gone from pulling teeth to get $50 per hour to having programs that come out to range from roughly $168-$315 per hour sounding reasonable to the same people. Well, person. I still have a lot of vetting and refining to do, but so far it seems like it's going to go well.
 
I've been making the transition from charging hourly to programs. I introduced these programs to a client for the first time today and I'm blown away at how different it already feels.

I had worked with this client previously, by the hour, for a new dog they brought home. They ultimately decided to re-home the dog, but then brought home another new dog. When they reached out to me about this new dog, I was already in the process of creating the new programs, so I told them that I'm now requiring assessments prior to working with dogs. It was over text message, and it kind of felt like they were trying to get more information about what I thought about their dog out of me and they asked about the assessment price in a way that made me feel like price was a big factor in whether or not they wanted to do it (I could be wrong). They ended up choosing to do the assessment, which we had today. At the end of today's assessment, I described my four new programs (think along the lines of good, better, best, premium) and what they entailed and what kinds of achievements they could expect to make from each one. I didn't mention price. Without much thought and without asking about price, they chose the "better" program. I was kind of shocked, but I handed them the print-outs with the descriptions and pricing to look over and again, they didn't really look too much into them and stuck with the "better" program priced at $1,075. They even said that ALL of my programs were reasonably priced (ranging from $675 to $7,575).

So I feel like almost overnight I've gone from pulling teeth to get $50 per hour to having programs that come out to range from roughly $168-$315 per hour sounding reasonable to the same people. Well, person. I still have a lot of vetting and refining to do, but so far it seems like it's going to go well.
Does it worry you that they re-homed a dog only to bring in another?
 
Does it worry you that they re-homed a dog only to bring in another?
Yes and no.
Personally, when I choose to bring home a new dog, that dog is stuck with me no matter what. Having worked with a number of people, I've realized that not everyone can make any dog work for them. I've seen a limited-mobility 80 year old with a 3 year old Heeler... it just wasn't the right dog for her. No matter how much training I did with the dog, she just wouldn't be able to maintain it. Re-homing the dog to a younger, more active family with much more land was absolutely the best choice for everyone involved. Should she be banned from adopting another dog? No, she still deserves the companionship and another dog deserves to be saved. I see this situation similarly. If they were taking dogs back to the shelter or letting them run free, that's a different story. But to put time and effort into getting the dog into a better home, that's something I can and do respect.
 
Yes and no.
Personally, when I choose to bring home a new dog, that dog is stuck with me no matter what. Having worked with a number of people, I've realized that not everyone can make any dog work for them. I've seen a limited-mobility 80 year old with a 3 year old Heeler... it just wasn't the right dog for her. No matter how much training I did with the dog, she just wouldn't be able to maintain it. Re-homing the dog to a younger, more active family with much more land was absolutely the best choice for everyone involved. Should she be banned from adopting another dog? No, she still deserves the companionship and another dog deserves to be saved. I see this situation similarly. If they were taking dogs back to the shelter or letting them run free, that's a different story. But to put time and effort into getting the dog into a better home, that's something I can and do respect.
Understandable, makes sense. My neighbors have 2 heelers that live out back in the 105 degree sun. It drives me absolutely crazy. Apparently they were watching them for some "friends" who never came back for them. This is why I donate to animal causes and not humans. ugh
 
Understandable, makes sense. My neighbors have 2 heelers that live out back in the 105 degree sun. It drives me absolutely crazy. Apparently they were watching them for some "friends" who never came back for them. This is why I donate to animal causes and not humans. ugh
I wanted to react with both :rage:and sad face (apparently it's not an emoji choice, just a reaction choice?).
I feel the same way, caring more about animal causes. I've called the cops numerous times to report poor living conditions, loose dogs, dogs in poor health; unfortunately around here it's really hard to get them to do much about it. I hope you have better animal-rights law enforcement where you are.
 
How do you handle facing dissatisfied customers?

Rationally you know that you can't make everyone happy but emotionally this can be a challenge (especially if you have a low self-worth I guess)

Has this been a challenge for you when you initially started?
 
How do you handle facing dissatisfied customers?

Rationally you know that you can't make everyone happy but emotionally this can be a challenge (especially if you have a low self-worth I guess)

Has this been a challenge for you when you initially started?

Good questions.

I think I have been feeling just the same amount of dissatisfaction as some clients. There are some who haven't been getting the results they want, but they also haven't been putting forth the work I explained their dog needs. So it's been frustrating on both ends in these cases. I'm hoping that by raising my prices a bit and having more structured programs instead of the indefinite hourly approach, I'll be able to guide people better and they'll feel a bit more accountable.

I've also had clients who ghosted me after one session - some of them seemed genuinely impressed with how the first session went, so I'm hoping that was all they needed; some seemed to not like my style or that I was expecting them to do "homework." At first this bummed me out quite a bit, but I've come to accept that not everyone is going to like me or my approach and I try to give some benefit of the doubt because I don't know what they're going through in life. I just try to learn something from each experience and try do things better moving forward.
 
Updates.
  • I've been working with a paid mentor and it's going well, I'm learning a ton about a lot of different aspects of dog training - communication, business, marketing, branding, social media, people, dogs, dog training, etc.
  • I've had a total of two clients sign contracts for training programs with their dogs and another one ready to sign next week. I have two more assessments scheduled that I'm hoping at least one of them will sign up for a program.
  • I put together a new landing page that I'm still tweaking. I have a feeling my message is a bit flat, or not directed enough. Any feedback would be immensely appreciated.
  • I launched a Google Ad campaign for the mentioned landing page.
  • I put together postcards for a free "ask a trainer" event and posted some in about a dozen local establishments, like vet offices, Tractor Supply, pet supply stores, groomers, etc. These haven't seemed to draw in much attention yet.
  • I have a pretty solid foundation of welcome/training packets for my programs. One set of clients, a couple, really liked the organization and it seems to be really helping them stay focused and make good progress in a short amount of time. The other client didn't seem too interested in the packet and wanted to dive right into the lesson/talking about her dog.
  • I need to be more firm and confident and a bit more prepared for some clients. I need to take the initiative of being leader more/better - it's easier for me to be a leader when someone else doesn't want to be, but when someone else has no problem running the show I tend to back off. I need to remind myself that I'm doing my clients and their dogs a disservice by being a doormat and letting them walk over me.
  • I'm going to an aggressive dog conference in Arizona in October. I'm really excited to network and learn.
  • I'm slowly becoming more regular in blog/newsletter articles and social media posts.
  • I have some ideas for creating dog-related posters for other local businesses, like informative posters related to dogs and what they do. For example, at the local vet I could post a flyer with tips for how dog owners can help their dogs not to feel so afraid of the vet. Or at the local shelter I could post a flyer for tips on how to choose a dog that's going to fit into your home best and how to make a new dog feel more at home to make the transition easier for everyone.
  • I made a local Facebook group for re-homing pets. I've had a handful of people come to me lately wanting/needing help with re-homing their pets. Our town has a pet "lost and found" page and a general "animal lovers" page, so I thought a dedicated page to helping re-home pets would be helpful too and not take away focus from other important topics the other pages were designed for. So far I've got about 50 people to join the group and one post that was shared a few times.
  • I went to the non-profit Animal Protective Association meeting on Monday and talked to more board members about the Google Ads grant and the help @Andy Black offered. They said they'd look into it and discuss it amongst themselves more and we could touch base in a couple of weeks.
  • My partner and I read a book together: The Business of the 21st Century. It was interesting. I think my biggest takeaways were reminders that what I'm doing isn't going to be successful overnight and that I shouldn't stop dreaming big or having big goals that seem super unreachable right now.
I think that's it since last time.
 
I put together postcards for a free "ask a trainer" event and posted some in about a dozen local establishments, like vet offices, Tractor Supply, pet supply stores, groomers, etc. These haven't seemed to draw in much attention yet.
I spoke too soon. I got a call today from someone who picked up my info from one of the places I put cards out at. We scheduled an assessment for next week. I'm excited, as this is my first potential client in a bigger town (about 18,500 people compared to my town of about 8,500).

I also made a couple of flyers for vet offices and shelters. I laminated them and gave one to my personal local vet - the receptionist who I've known for years was stoked about it. I've attached them here.. any feedback on how to make them better is welcomed and appreciated. I'm also thinking of a few others to make, but if anyone has any suggestions I'm happy to hear them!
 

Attachments

I spoke too soon. I got a call today from someone who picked up my info from one of the places I put cards out at. We scheduled an assessment for next week. I'm excited, as this is my first potential client in a bigger town (about 18,500 people compared to my town of about 8,500).

I also made a couple of flyers for vet offices and shelters. I laminated them and gave one to my personal local vet - the receptionist who I've known for years was stoked about it. I've attached them here.. any feedback on how to make them better is welcomed and appreciated. I'm also thinking of a few others to make, but if anyone has any suggestions I'm happy to hear them!
Post them as screenshots @REV5028
 
I put together a new landing page that I'm still tweaking. I have a feeling my message is a bit flat, or not directed enough. Any feedback would be immensely appreciated.
I think it's a nice page overall.

Some suggestions for improvements:

- Text is too small in a lot of places on desktop. On mobile it's perfect (honestly mobile is 100x more important, so not a huge deal).

- I would select your best review, and put it up near the top by the sign up form. Maybe right after the "are your dog's behaviors embarrassing..." section.

- When I tap the couple of "Contact" buttons on mobile it scrolls up to the "are your dog's behaviors embarrassing..." section, and not the sign up form. On desktop it works, because this section and the sign up form are side by side.

- The dark grey backgrounds (are you dog's behaviors embarrassing... + youtube video) I don't think look good next to the dark purply-navy, and make the text a little hard to read. I'd opt for the lighter grey, or white, with black text. You don't want so many background color changes.

- Small detail: It's nice to use different fonts for headers and body text. You're doing this, but not consistently. Get all the big header text set to the sans-serif font that you are using for some of the headers. Just makes the page more consistent.

- In the 2nd section, I don't think I would link it to Canis Fidelis home page. I'd just let them keep going down the lander.



I think my biggest takeaways were reminders that what I'm doing isn't going to be successful overnight and that I shouldn't stop dreaming big or having big goals that seem super unreachable right now.

It's a process. You should always be evaluating whether it's possible that the current path, taken far enough into the future, is capable of leading you to your goals, even if you can't fill in all the blanks yet.
 
I think it's a nice page overall.

Some suggestions for improvements:

- Text is too small in a lot of places on desktop. On mobile it's perfect (honestly mobile is 100x more important, so not a huge deal).

- I would select your best review, and put it up near the top by the sign up form. Maybe right after the "are your dog's behaviors embarrassing..." section.

- When I tap the couple of "Contact" buttons on mobile it scrolls up to the "are your dog's behaviors embarrassing..." section, and not the sign up form. On desktop it works, because this section and the sign up form are side by side.

- The dark grey backgrounds (are you dog's behaviors embarrassing... + youtube video) I don't think look good next to the dark purply-navy, and make the text a little hard to read. I'd opt for the lighter grey, or white, with black text. You don't want so many background color changes.

- Small detail: It's nice to use different fonts for headers and body text. You're doing this, but not consistently. Get all the big header text set to the sans-serif font that you are using for some of the headers. Just makes the page more consistent.

- In the 2nd section, I don't think I would link it to Canis Fidelis home page. I'd just let them keep going down the lander.





It's a process. You should always be evaluating whether it's possible that the current path, taken far enough into the future, is capable of leading you to your goals, even if you can't fill in all the blanks yet.
Thanks so much for the time you took to look it over and give feedback!
 
@Andy Black Congrats on the new pup! Love seeing the pics. We have a soft spot for black Labs and just spent four hours at the shelter yesterday morning shopping for another dog. Our last Lab died of liver disease about two years ago which has been long enough to start looking again.

You're going to find that 90% - maybe 100% - of dog training is really people training.

Getting the owners to act consistently with effective techniques is far more difficult that I'd ever have expected. For some reason, the default seems to doing exactly the opposite of what should be done. e.g. the dog is running around and they're yelling and chasing after her since recall was never trained. Eventually she finally returns only to be punished. Not only is the dog learning to ignore them, she gets yelled at for finally doing exactly the right thing.

It's reinforcing exactly the behavior you don't want happening. So dumb.

@REV5028 Have you had similar experiences with people you've helped?
 
spent four hours at the shelter yesterday morning shopping for another dog. Our last Lab died of liver disease about two years ago which has been long enough to start looking again.
I'm sorry for your loss, Two Dog :(
Any new addition to your family is going to be super lucky :)
@REV5028 Have you had similar experiences with people you've helped?
Yeah, I've had this happen :/

I haven't helped a ton of people yet, and I think my structure was partly to blame, but most of the time it's more an issue of the people not putting in the effort and time outside of training sessions. Every once in a while I'll get people who don't think my methods will work and they keep doing the things that definitely aren't going to work.

I also advertise myself as positive reinforcement only, so I think I weed out quite a few people who don't agree with positive methods or those who aren't willing to try it. With those who seem on the fence or to have some doubts, I try to give relatable examples, like: "when you go to work, do you feel more motivated and happy and secure when you're getting rewarded with pay raises and compliments, or do you feel more motivated and happy and secure when your boss ignores your efforts and then yells at you when you do something wrong, or worse when you sometimes get rewarded and sometimes get punished for the exact same behavior? In which scenario are you more likely to keep doing your job well?" I usually see the gears start shifting after framing it this way.
 
I've mostly been doing one-on-one training sessions with people and their dogs.

OK, revising this post after reading through your introduction. What you're describing with "whole health wellness" demands a tremendous amount of prospect education. That means generating and publishing a tremendous amount of content.

FWIW, that seems far too much for a one person shop getting started. You would need a strong team of content writers, editors and distributors to have that kind of impact. All of which takes time and resources.

Dog training: I've seen a handful of established biz models for dog training. Everything from 1 on 1 session, multiple sessions onsite at the family home, group sessions conducted in a neutral environment, drop the dog off with the trainer for several weeks. The last often comes up with atypical issues or intense dedicated training like sheep herding.

I'm also in a few groups for dogs with cancer/tumors and specific dog diets. I've seen a handful of miracle accounts of how people have reversed their dog's ailments with diet and supplements.
Let me add two more to your miracles list. :innocent: :halo:

Diet & Health: Commercial dog food is a joke. It makes the ultra processed crap that's available for people seem like high quality food. We started feeding our dogs home prepared whole food ages ago. It helps that it's basically the same diet we eat ourselves. Just a reduced subset of our food.

Cancer Recover #1: Our 1st Lab Zeus had osteochondrasarcoma which is bone cancer growth typically on the limbs. In that case, the medical answer is amputations In Zeus's case, it was in the skull and growing internally which are both *very* rare conditions. HIs brain had compressed 50% which caused neurologic problems. It was slowly growing over months or possibly years.

I found a surgeon who managed to remove a giant chunk of his skull and replace it with an acrylic plastic without killing him. Minor miracle. It was written up in a number of vet journals. Afterwards, we switched him to a whole food diet along with a bunch of cancer supporting supplements and medicinal mushrooms. It was three years of perfect health before it eventually recurred. The bone cancer was extensive enough the first time that the vet couldn't safely remove everything with enough margin. We'd already had one miracle and I didn't want to risk having a brain damaged pet, so we decided to let him go.

Cancer Recover #2: Our second Lab Beau had fatal liver disease that dumped him suddenly into the ER. Probably from ingesting toxins, but we'll never know. After four days of watching them slowly kill him, I pulled him out against their wishes and switched to the same diet and meds. Full recovery followed by four years of perfect health before it recurred. Then about a year of various DIY treatments with lots of ups and downs.

Summary: With all that said, I'd repeat the first sentiment and encourage you to focus on a single area and expand from there. Get one service and one marketing channel working effectively. Dog training, nutrition counseling, therapy, wellness are all giant categories. It's tough (read damn near impossible) to get any traction swimming in all those ponds.

If you can settle on one and show some success, the next logical step is training additional people to provide similar services. Those will likely come from former clients or people in related fields (e.g. dog walking) that want a better income opportunity. That's your expansion opportunity along with publishing, speaking gigs, stuff like that.
 
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How are you delivering the training sessions?
I haven't done much virtually. Usually the sessions are at the client's home, sometimes at a park. I almost always work with the person and the dog, not just with the dog. Sessions are usually an hour long. I'm transitioning from hourly pay-as-we-go sessions to a results-based program that doesn't have a hard deadline or set number of sessions, and it's paid upfront. I've created a training packet to help keep clients on track and that they can add to as we go along. The overall process is usually a short consultation call ---> an assessment ---> a program.

Are you also a dog trainer?
 
OK, revising this post after reading through your introduction. What you're describing with "whole health wellness" demands a tremendous amount of prospect education. That means generating and publishing a tremendous amount of content.

FWIW, that seems far too much for a one person shop getting started. You would need a strong team of content writers, editors and distributors to have that kind of impact. All of which takes time and resources.

Dog training: I've seen a handful of established biz models for dog training. Everything from 1 on 1 session, multiple sessions onsite at the family home, group sessions conducted in a neutral environment, drop the dog off with the trainer for several weeks. The last often comes up with atypical issues or intense dedicated training like sheep herding.


Let me add two more to your miracles list. :innocent: :halo:

Diet & Health: Commercial dog food is a joke. It makes the ultra processed crap that's available for people seem like high quality food. We started feeding our dogs home prepared whole food ages ago. It helps that it's basically the same diet we eat ourselves. Just a reduced subset of our food.

Cancer Recover #1: Our 1st Lab Zeus had osteochondrasarcoma which is bone cancer growth typically on the limbs. In that case, the medical answer is amputations In Zeus's case, it was in the skull and growing internally which are both *very* rare conditions. HIs brain had compressed 50% which caused neurologic problems. It was slowly growing over months or possibly years.

I found a surgeon who managed to remove a giant chunk of his skull and replace it with an acrylic plastic without killing him. Minor miracle. It was written up in a number of vet journals. Afterwards, we switched him to a whole food diet along with a bunch of cancer supporting supplements and medicinal mushrooms. It was three years of perfect health before it eventually recurred. The bone cancer was extensive enough the first time that the vet couldn't safely remove everything with enough margin. We'd already had one miracle and I didn't want to risk having a brain damaged pet, so we decided to let him go.

Cancer Recover #2: Our second Lab Beau had fatal liver disease that dumped him suddenly into the ER. Probably from ingesting toxins, but we'll never know. After four days of watching them slowly kill him, I pulled him out against their wishes and switched to the same diet and meds. Full recovery followed by four years of perfect health before it recurred. Then about a year of various DIY treatments with lots of ups and downs.

Summary: With all that said, I'd repeat the first sentiment and encourage you to focus on a single area and expand from there. Get one service and one marketing channel working effectively. Dog training, nutrition counseling, therapy, wellness are all giant categories. It's tough (read damn near impossible) to get any traction swimming in all those ponds.

If you can settle on one and show some success, the next logical step is training additional people to provide similar services. Those will likely come from former clients or people in related fields (e.g. dog walking) that want a better income opportunity. That's your expansion opportunity along with publishing, speaking gigs, stuff like that.
Just saw your updated post!

There's a growing movement for including diet and a holistic approach to training, especially when it comes to dog aggression and anxieties. It's kind of tricky though - as a dog trainer I have very limited freedoms to advise people on how they feed their dogs (though, I can carefully share what I have done for my dogs and the results I have seen), but those who have the authority to give nutritional guidance, like vets, are often not very well trained on such topics and often don't know a ton about dog behavior either. So it's kind of this weird time of not too many people being super qualified to educate people on their dogs as a whole animal.

I agree, that currently being a solo-preneuer and not having certain legal certifications I should probably not focus too much on the dog diet stuff; As an introvert I find it difficult to create video content, and though I'm slowly embracing it, I just don't have it in me to produce anywhere close to the volume of content that would be needed to enter the space. Though I will probably start incorporating it into my training, like giving my clients assessments to fill out periodically on how their dog's gut is doing and try to use that to inform the dog's behaviors. Or maybe some blog posts summarizing/discussing books I read. For now, I'm focusing on mostly the training part in hopes that it can become just one piece of the whole project. My pipe dream is to have a dog education center/retreat that allows for people and their dogs to come learn and heal together, or even just be able to travel with their dogs somewhere with more freedom, and also be a rescue/rehabilitation center for dogs in need and then find them the right homes. It would be a large compound that includes greenhouses and such to source fresh foods and the visiting people and their dogs would have their own cozy cabins and fenced yards (or maybe some Santa Fe style tiny homes), and the rescue dogs would also have their own dwellings that don't stress them out nearly as much as traditional shelters/boarding facilities. Anyway... a girl can dream.

I've been starting to put together documents and "how-to's" for the purpose of one day being able to help others become successful dog trainers (assuming I become successful enough to help others). I know it'll be years down the road, but it is something I've been keeping in the back of my mind. My mentor also urged me to keep a training journal so that one day I could write a book if I wanted. Sometimes I get carried away thinking about the long term goals and outcomes and I sometimes have a hard time focusing on what to do now to make those things happen one day.

Thanks for sharing your miracle stories! They got so much more time with you than they would have if you had followed what the vets and traditional pet industry standards told you. The body and nature are truly incredible. I'm still really sad my guy didn't get more than 9 months after his diagnosis, but his last months were much more peaceful and happy than a lot of others I've heard about and his decline was super fast in comparison to many others as well. No matter what, they just don't live long enough.
 
Some updates, I'll try to keep it brief.

1. I'm feeling more comfortable in results-based programs, though I've gotten one lead that is having a very hard time accepting that she'd be paying for a result and not my time.

2. This quarter's revenue came in at around twice what I did in Q2. Still not enough quite enough to live on, but if the trend over the last 15 months continues then I'll be doing alright.

3. I'm going to try working part time at my local veterinary clinic. I have the application almost completely filled out and I'll probably submit it tomorrow. The vets know me well, so I don't think they'll reject me, but who knows. It would give me a small, but steady income while I learned more about animal wellness, people, the industry, and the next couple of points:

4. I have a lot to build on from what I learned from my mentor, as well as a course for helping dog trainers get set up for success. I haven't done too much with it yet, but from the videos I have seen, the instructor is super knowledgable on the business side and human psychology.

5. Lots of other things to learn. I purchased an aggressive dog course that I need to start. With a movement in the industry to make dog training more regulated, I'm also looking to become CCPDT certified in the next couple of years. I just joined the PPG.

6. I'll be attending a Dog Aggression conference in Scottsdale, AZ in mid October. I'm excited to learn and network a bit more.

7. I made more informative flyers, one of them for marijuana dispensaries about cannabis intoxication in dogs. I actually haven't been too good about putting the other ones out. My introversion and feelings of not being good enough have really been limiting me lately.

8. I tried Google ads again, and it didn't go too well. For whatever reason it's a really steep learning curve for me. I got two calls, both thinking I was associated with an established training organization ... not really sure how they made that connection since my landing page and keywords, search terms, etc. say absolutely nothing about that organization ...

9. Flyers and word of mouth have been my biggest lead generators, so I'm going to lean into those. I stayed up late creating a flyer and using the USPS EDDM tool to find some mailing routes to have them delivered to. It'll be an interesting though small test of 3,000 mail outs. My mind wanted to send them to the highest average income areas because most people who don't go for a program said they really liked what they saw in the assessment but the programs were a bit out of their price range, but Google tells me that the most likely people to purchase dog training services are Gen Z. So I chose neighborhoods that seem to fit both of those descriptions. Most of my clients so far have been Gen X or Boomers, but my sample size is small. So we'll see!

10. Lots of other things to do. I took my dogs to the Farmer's Market a couple of weekends ago and got a bit of attention and handed out some cards. I've scoped out a couple of dog parks in the city I want to take one of my dogs to and have a white board indicating that I'm training her (tactic from my mentor). More blog posts and social media. etc. etc.
 
In case anyone is interested in the cannabis intoxication in dogs info flyer:

Screen Shot 2024-09-30 at 3.43.22 PM.webp
 
Time for an update I suppose.

The dog training conference I went to was amazing. I met a ton of awesome people, and even connected with a long-time trainer in my state. I have since joined a quarterly meetup of other dog trainers in my state and I have plans to shadow the first trainer I mentioned in a couple of days.

I'm learning (and doing) so much. And there's still so much to learn and do! If I stop to think about it, I feel like I'm really moving at the 67,000 miles per hour that our planet is zinging through space. It's hard to imagine that I left my corporate job only 3 months ago.

I used the USPS EDDM service and sent out 2900 flyers in my small town. I didn't design my flyer 100% correctly; my local post office accepted the flyers, but couldn't speak for other post offices - so I decided to just send them in my small town. I got a couple of inquiries, and a few assessments.

I got a new client through word of mouth. They really like all the effort I've put into creating my programs/business, and they are my dream clients. So, I'm super happy about it.

Overall, new clients are still far and few between. My programs have gone through a few iterations, as have my prices. I just changed them again tonight, so I'm hoping it helps. I think I had too big of a gap between my basic obedience program and my behavior-only program, as people clearly needing help with behavior seem to keep leaning towards basic obedience.

I haven't heard back from my local vet, but I have a feeling I didn't get the job. I think I was a little too honest at one point, and they like to give preference to high school/college kids who think they want to go into veterinary work.

I connected with a dog groomer in the town an hour south of me where I go frequently. I asked her if there was any kind of informative flyer that would help at her business, but she said she really just wanted more people to know about the daily life of her profession. So instead I offered to interview her and write an article about what she does. It ended up being a lot of complaints about people showing up hours late, unannounced, or not showing up at all. But, I think I can work with what she gave me. She also asked for materials that show more of what I offer, so I left her with some of the leftover flyers that I sent out in my town. This was just last week, and it already lead to an assessment today.

I also connected with an animal rescue in that town south of me. I took them a laminated flyer with questions to help people decide if a dog is right for them and to really think about what having a dog means. I also took them a sample of a handwritten card from me to dog adopters (just saying congrats on the new friend and thank you for choosing to rescue) that also included a $50 coupon that says to thank the rescue for the referral (so when someone turns in their coupon that they got from the rescue, they get $50 off, but then I also make a $50 donation to the rescue). I also offered to give them a free seminar or workshop on dog training or dog body language, or whatever they felt they could use more knowledge on. They're going to review my materials and get back to me this coming week to let me know if working with me in this way would align with their mission.

I took my car to get serviced at the dealership in the big city a little over a week ago. They were having a pet adoption event the next day, and I asked if they ever partnered with trainers. This led to conversation and an invitation to attend and hand things out. I put together the cards mentioned above, and had them include them in the adoption boxes they were giving out. They seemed to really like that and they essentially gave me an open invitation to their future adoption events. I got some website traffic from this, but no contacts.

Some things have been really tough to handle lately.

Finances are getting a little spooky.

Apparently the mayor of my town kept getting complaints about our animal shelter and had EVERY SINGLE dog euthanized. A small, but angry, group of us are forming an action team to get more answers as to how and why this happened.

I had to have a difficult conversation with an elderly lady about how there are very few options for her dog, and that behavioral euthanasia may be the kindest thing for him.

I'm way behind on social media and blog posts/newsletter articles.

Lots of imposter syndrome. Lots of feeling like I'm failing. Lots of ups and downs.
 
In case anyone is interested in the cannabis intoxication in dogs info flyer:
Just my hunch, I don't think that it's worth spending much time making things like this.

I mean, they are awesome, and it's good info.

But I think it's too large a mental leap for someone to go from: Reading educational information while buying weed to "oh look this was made by a dog trainer, maybe I should call her about training my dog".

I think your time is better spent on more direct response type things. i.e. advertises your services directly.

The "refer me to your highly relevant clients that are getting a new dog with $50 off training"... absolutely keep doing that.

The direct mailers... probably keep doing those as well. Maybe try it a few times, or a dozen times, tweaking the messaging, and the offer, and see if you can up the response rate. I share this a lot here, but here is what a very powerful direct response flyer looks like: Powerwashing Flyers that took business from zero to $13,202 per month

And then save the educational info for emails to your client/prospect email list, to continually stay top of mind, and build trust and rapport over time, while adding value to their inbox.
 
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Lots of imposter syndrome. Lots of feeling like I'm failing. Lots of ups and downs.

Relax. Keep learning. You are taking action and building skills. Keep doing.

This is the process. It remains to be seen if this is the right business or not, but you have a business, you are making business moves, getting feedback and adjusting.

Dog training is a tough business in general. Often almost a labor of love. But some have made solid businesses with this as a starting point.

Give your best to everyday. Set your goal to keep getting better, and you won't feel like you are failing.

That other MJ (Michael Jordan) is famous for saying

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Maybe your money supply won't allow for enough time to "crack the code" on this venture, but if you keep going and keep growing you will crack the code.

And if you do decide to stop this, make it an empowered choice. Don't view it as quitting, view it as a pivot.

Keep your head up Rev.
 
Thanks @BizyDad for the support and reminder that if this doesn't work out, it's not a failure. Also, I have to give you credit for the idea to try partnering with shelters etc. through referrals/donations.

Just my hunch, I don't think that it's worth spending much time making things like this.
These things were suggested in a course I'm in by a dog trainer who pivoted to helping dog trainers become successful. Not that everything she did will work for me, but I gave it a try. Shelters and veterinarians seem to really like the ones I made for them, and I agree they're more relevant. I made the dispensary one mostly just to be helpful and to practice other skills.

The direct mailers
Thanks for pointing me to that blog! Looking through the examples, I don't think I did a horrible job on my first one. I think I could make it a little more personable (e.g., simpler), or add in something more useful that someone would put on their fridge - like a list of local/regional pet resources (vets, shelters, etc.). I might also try this version in a couple different areas. I'm learning just how much of a weird black hole my town is.

Would love feedback if you or anyone else has time/interest.

Also @amp0193 how are things going with your dog?

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Thanks @BizyDad for the support and reminder that if this doesn't work out, it's not a failure. Also, I have to give you credit for the idea to try partnering with shelters etc. through referrals/donations.

And give yourself credit for taking the action. Imposters don't take action. They sit there and dream about what could be. Entrepreneurs go out and make it happen. You are getting things done. You are planting the seeds.

There is a harvest coming. It might not be with this business, but keep planting the seeds and you will reap the harvest before you know it.
 
I don't think I did a horrible job on my first one. I think I could make it a little more personable (e.g., simpler), or add in something more useful that someone would put on their fridge - like a list of local/regional pet resources (vets, shelters, etc.). I might also try this version in a couple different areas. I'm learning just how much of a weird black hole my town is.
The biggest thing it’s missing is a reason to reply to the ad right now, today, at this very moment that I am reading the ad.

There’s no price, there’s no offer. No scarcity or limited time (“respond today, only 3 spots left for fall 2024” or whatever). Too much left up to the imagination which equals resistance to action.


My dog is doing ok on the walks now!

New challenge is how to get her to stop barking at people through the window. When I give her a command she will stop barking. But how to get her to not do it in the first place?
 

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